AP - Hurricane Earl roared past the North Carolina Outer Banks early Friday, flooding some parts of the narrow vacation islands and knocking out electricity before driving north at the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the East Coast.

AP - A passenger was detained and four of Miami International Airport's six concourses along with an onsite hotel were evacuated after a screener spotted something suspicious in a checked bag, authorities said.

AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he saw and heard evidence that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in critical Kandahar province.

AP - The unemployment rate may be about to rise again.

AP - Stark differences exist between the oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico and the blast that led to the massive BP spill. Most notably, no one was killed and no crude was gushing into the water, but the distinctions don't end there.

AP - Republican Jesse Kelly was still basking in the glow of his victory in an Arizona congressional primary when the Democratic congresswoman he's trying to unseat released a scathing TV ad branding him "a risk" who would gamble away people's retirement savings.

AP - U.S. Agriculture Department employees worked full-time at two Iowa egg farms at the center of a salmonella outbreak and massive recall, but two former workers said they ignored complaints about conditions at one site.

AP - Soldiers killed at least 25 suspected cartel members Thursday in a raid and gunbattle in a Mexican state near the U.S. border that has become one of the most dangerous battlegrounds in the country's drug war.

AP - Rap and rock will collide once again — this time in a video game.

AP - They all want to be like Maria. They all want to beat Maria, too.

Reuters - An oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, but the crew of 13 escaped and there were no signs of an oil spill, the Coast Guard said.

Reuters - Hurricane Earl battered North Carolina's coast with rain, winds and waves on Friday and swirled up the U.S. eastern seaboard toward New England and Canada as a weakened but still dangerous storm.

Reuters - A blast ripped through a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least nine people, the second major attack this week, piling pressure on the civilian government struggling with a flood crisis.

Reuters - Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a series of direct talks on Thursday, seeking to forge the framework for a U.S.-backed peace deal within a year and end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.

Reuters - At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said in a press release.

AFP - Israeli and Palestinian leaders have cleared the first hurdle in what promises to be difficult negotiations, vowing to try to settle core differences within a year and meet every two weeks.

AFP - Cricket's world governing body charged three Pakistan stars with anti-corruption offences and provisionally suspended them, as the trio protested their innocence in an alleged betting scam.